(CNN) - California voters will be able to decide this fall whether their state will be the first in the nation to legalize the possession of marijuana for nonmedicinal uses, advocates claimed Wednesday, saying they have the needed signatures for a ballot initiative.

The proposed ballot initiative legalizing adults' possession of up to one ounce of marijuana has collected almost 700,000 signatures, according to a statement from the Marijuana Policy Project, a Washington-based organization.

Roughly 434,000 signatures are required to place an initiative on statewide ballot in California this year, the statement said. State election officials are expected to validate the signatures Wednesday, it said.

City and county governments would be allowed to imposed a sales tax under the proposed statute. They also would be allowed to establish local ordinances relating to distribution.

California first enacted a law allowing for the medicinal use of marijuana in 1996, according Marijuana Policy Project spokesman Steve Fox. Fourteen states now allow medical marijuana, he said.

soundoff(27 Responses)

Sniffit

Watch carefully folks and pay attention to how much this contributes to helping CA dig out of its financial hole if they legalize it. Between savings on enforcement and judicial costs and revenue from taxes I guarantee it will be fairly significant. Can't wait to laugh at the crybabies who think the "war on drugs" is necessary.

March 24, 2010 04:36 pm at 4:36 pm |

jenn, philadelphia

I've been reading articles about them making stroke victims get out of wheelchairs and veterans remove artificial limbs to "walk" through metal detectors. We should certainly make it more difficult to fire these idiots.